Physicians are constantly being confronted with situations where the differential diagnosis is between a primary dermatitis such as eczema, psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis, versus a fungal pathogen such as dermatophytosis or candidiasis of the skin.
Currently, the preferred method of diagnosing a fungal pathogen is a potassium hydroxide wet mount (KOH), and or a fungal culture or screen. The KOH is highly technical and experience-dependent and a fungal screen or culture takes approximately 7 to 30 days for a definitive answer. The KOH wet mount has been combined with DMSO in ranges of 10 to 20 per cent to enhance the breakdown of cell walls so that fungal hyphae can be more readily discerned via microscopic identification. There also has been the use of tissue dyes, such as india ink to highlight the hyphael structures for quicker identification. The problem with the above microscopic KOH (with and without DMSO or tissue dye) techniques is that they are dependent upon the individual expertise of the operator. In this scenario there could be a large margin of error both in the over identification of fungi-false positives, and in the under identification of fungi-false negatives. The rate of false positives and false negatives is purely a correlation of operator experience. For example, a board certified dermatologist should predictably have a high rate of specificity, over 90 per cent, due to the rigorous training and testing specifically for diseases of the skin. However, a family physician who has limited training and limited experience in skin diseases will predictably have a higher error rate in either over or under detection of the fungi. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a test kit that would eliminate operator error, and have a predictably accurate and reproducible rate of identification of pathogenic fungi, yeasts and molds. The herein disclosed invention is directed to this end.